Astros monitor market as closers become available

Evan Drellich,By Evan Drellich

November 11, 2015

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Jeff Luhnow left the general managers' meetings midday Wednesday with a sense a move might well come before the winter meetings in December, which is when the Astros made a splash last offseason with bullpen signings.

Maybe the bullpen will again benefit this year to start things off, but with a trade earlier.

"Every time we watched the playoffs, we learned two things," agent Scott Boras said Wednesday. "One is the value of closers is almost nil in the offseason and it's all we talk about during the playoffs."

Hot commodities

Luhnow said the Astros touched base with every team and that he has a sense of which teams are ready to move more quickly than others and who is available.

"We've laid some groundwork and also touched base with a few of the key agents that have the players that we're interested in," Luhnow said.

It's no secret that closers are the talk of the Boca Raton Resort and Club. As one rival GM put it Wednesday, righthander Craig Kimbrel and lefthander Aroldis Chapman are "definitely" available, and Reds president Walt Jocketty confirmed the latter.

"I think there's a good possibility that will happen this winter," Jocketty said of moving Chapman, 27. "(The closer market is) evolving. I don't think there's any particular pace to it, but it's - I think there's more guys out there than originally people had anticipated. There's a few guys that came out this week that I don't think a lot of people thought would. Once one guy gets moved, then the rest will probably fall into place."

Luhnow, meanwhile, acknowledged that some of the trade talks he's been having are about high-profile relievers.

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"Those conversations are happening, and it really comes down to what our options are, either through trade or trying to improve the bullpen through free agency and how much it's going to cost in terms of prospects or money to put something together," Luhnow said. "Nothing's cheap."

Jocketty's asking price for Chapman at last season's trade deadline was said to be high, which isn't surprising considering Chapman's 100-plus mph arm is unique.

After their fruitless pursuit of the Padres' Kimbrel, 27, and Chapman last summer, the Astros took comfort because no other team landed either pitcher, which suggested asking prices were too high. The Astros also were not left with a sense the Padres were interested in moving Kimbrel at the deadline, although people familiar with that situation have said conversely the Astros were likely a prospect away from a deal.

Just a little off

"We were close to a couple of things, and then we just decided that trying - we thought we'd wait until the offseason," Jocketty said. "There really wasn't a deal there that we felt compelled to make."

This isn't a perfect environment for a club trying to trade a closer, though, and maybe that benefits the Astros.

"It's harder to do, yeah," Jocketty said of the supply. "If you had fewer guys - just one or two clubs moving closers - (it would) be a lot easier to make a deal."